Dairy Sheep Production Systems

Broken link? Something out of place? Please email hello@dsana.com for assistance!

  • What Can Testing Do For You? – 2019 – Chris Tucker, Rocky Mountain DHIA.  A presentation on the Dairy Herd Improvement Association that goes over what might cause high SCC and why you want a low SCC, why you should test your milk components, and what Rocky Mountain DHIA (RMDHIA) reports show.  It also goes over how to collect and send samples for testing.

  • The Economics of Dairy Sheep Operations - 2018 - Compares budget models for two types of dairy sheep operations — intensive high-input and small low-input. Includes information on expected expense and revenue lines, such as feed consumption, milk production, etc. Offers expected returns to labor and management for each production system according to milk price and milk yield.

  • How does the use of Sheep milk change economic feasibility and break even prices for the artisan cheesemaker? - 2018 - Sheep's milk is more costly to purchase than cows, making the cheese more expensive to produce. Also being a producer-processor affects the price of the milk because of various fluctuating costs such as labor or needing to upgrade facilities.

  • Virtual Tour of Black Pearl Creamery - 2016. Lauren & Kevin McKinzey. A look at a small farm milking 30 ewes once a day producing yogurt. Discusses how they milk including details on pulsation rate & vacuum; their production schedule, productivity data and marketing their final product.

  • Virtual Tour of Northland Sheep Dairy - 2016. Maryrose Livingston. A 100% grass based sheep dairy in NY milking crossbred ewes in seasonal production (May-October) and ewes raise their lambs.

  • Tour of Shepherd's Way LLC: Old Chatham Sheepherding Creamery - 2016. David & Sally Galton. The history behind a large 2100 head dairy sheep operation in NY.

  • Fermentable Fiber for Milking Sheep on the STAR System - 2016. Nikola Kochendoerfer. A study focusing on the optimal feeding protocol and production results for milking non-dairy specific breeds in an accelerated lambing system (lambing 3 times in 2 years) with lambs reared artificially.

  • Farm Tour 2012 #1: Everona Dairy - 2012 - Pat Elliott, Virginia. A look at their high percentage East Friesian flock, year round milking of 200+ ewes, bottle raising lambs, making and selling cheese.

  • Feeding Dairy Ewes Better For Increased Production & Profit - 2012 - Dan Morrical, Iowa State University. This article looks at nutrient requirements affected by age, weight, stage of production & level of production with a focus on late gestation & lactation phases with a focus on controlling feed costs while increasing output is critical for profitable sheep production. Contains helpful graphs and diagrams on feed needs through different stages.

  • Ovinshire Farm: Pasture based Feeding for our Flock- 2012 - Scott Burrington, Ovinshire Farm, NY. A look at one farms methods of feeding a flock of 600 sheep on mostly pasture in upstate New York.

  • Managing Dairy Sheep Nutrition on an Organic Farm - 2012 - Rebecca King, Garden Variety Cheese/Monkeyflower Ranch, CA. A look at nutrition for a flock of 100 ewes on a 40 acre ranch in a mainly pasture environment and with an organic emphasis. Includes information on offering extra hay, feeding brewers grains and types of grasses on the ranch.

  • Situation of Sheep Milk Production in Europe, 2011, Beate Maassen-Francke. An overview of the sheep breeds, milk production, and production methods used in Europe.

  • DAIRY SHEEP UPDATE – ONTARIO - 2010 -  Mike Foran, Ontario Ministry of Agriculture Food and Rural Affairs. Overview of dairy industry in Ontario, Canada

  • EUROPEAN CHEESEMAKING PERSPECTIVES - 2010 - Ivan Larcher, Larcher Consulting Overview of European sheep breeds and history of cheesemaking

  • INDUCTION OF ESTRUS AS A REPRODUCTIVE MANAGEMENT TOOL IN ANESTROUS EWES - 2009 - Keith Inskeep, Division of Animal and Veterinary Sciences, West Virginia University. Study focusing on out-of-season breeding in dairy sheep

  • BEHAVIORAL FACTORS INFLUENCING DRY MATTER INTAKE IN PASTURE SYSTEMS - 2009 - Dr. Darrell L. Emmick, NY State Grazing Land Management Specialist. Interesting article on behavior-based grazing management and why animals choose what, why and when to eat.  

  • GETTING STARTED IN SHEEP DAIRYING - 2009 - Rebecca King, Garden Variety Cheese. A description of the points to be considered and some of the information necessary to make key decisions.

  • EFFECT OF PREPARTUM PHOTOPERIOD ON PROLACTIN AND MILK PRODUCTION OF DAIRY EWES - 2006 - Claire M. Mikolayunas1, David L. Thomas1, Yves M. Berger2 T. F. Gressley3, and G. E. Dahl3 Department of Animal Sciences, 2 Spooner Agricultural Research Station, University of Wisconsin-Madison and Department of Animal Science, University of Illinois. Research conducted to determine the effect of prepartum photoperiod on milk production, milk composition, and prolactin levels of 22 dairy ewes as compared to dairy cows

  • SHEEP BEHAVIOR AND ITS USE IN SHEEP MANAGEMENT - 2006 - Harold W. Gonyou Prairie Swine Centre and the University of Saskatchewan. Introduction to sheep behaviour looking at three touch points: psychology, ethology, and behavioural ecology.

  • You want to milk what? Important considerations to ponder before starting a sheep dairy - 2005 - Ghia. Michael Ghia of Ewetopia Farm draws on his own experiences to lay out some general things you should consider before committing to milking sheep.

  • Evolution of milk production at the Spooner Agricultural Research Station between 1996 and 2004 - 2005 - Berger. This is a summary of how milk production has grown substantially and consistently year on year at the Spooner farm since its first season in 1996., and some of the factors behind it.

  • Overview of the dairy sheep sector in Canada and the United States - 2004 - Thomas. This is a summary of the state of play for the dairy sheep industry in Canada and the USA, including breeds, numbers, management systems, milk quality, marketing and transportation, farmstead cheese production, genetic improvement, and support organizations.

  • Dairy Sheep Association of North America - 2003 - Clark. Nancy Clark opens the 2003 DSANA meeting and gives a succinct summary of what DSANA does and has acheived.

  • Economics of winter milking for medium to large dairy sheep operations - 2002 - Berger. In this article, Yves Berger looks at winter milking for larger operations looking to make better use of their large capital investment by having ewes lamb in the spring, autumn and winter. He covers the implications of winter lambing and milking (e.g., feed and labor), and does a budget analysis.

  • Introduction to dairy sheep farming - getting started - 2002 - Tolman. Bee Tolman gives an overview of how the Tolman Sheep Dairy Farm got started, covering business planning, time, overhead control, investing in milk-recorded stock, the details, working off-farm, adding value to your milk, and learning from others.

  • Beginning management for a sheep dairy - 2002 - Kleinpeter. Ken Kleinpeter gives a brief overiew of the basic management options and decisions faced by new dairy sheep producers, including what type of sheep to get, starting a flock, whether to milk seasonally or year-round, feeding, lamb management, and what to do with your milk.

  • Choice of breed for dairy sheep production systems - 2001 - Thomas. David Thomas summarises the common breeds in North America before 1992, overseas breeds, the availability of different breeds in North America, evaluates some dairy breeds in present in North America, and discusses the economic effects of breed choice.

  • Getting started in sheep dairying - 2001 - Tappe. Jon and Kris Tappe list the goals they set, the steps they took to finance their operation, and construction activities.

  • The Australian sheep dairy industry: history, current status and research initiatives - 2001 - Bencini. Roberta Bencini from Australian gives an overview of the Australian scene, including the breeds used by dairy sheep farmers, the domestic market, lamb management, the potential of Awassi sheep, and the development of dairy products.

  • Management of a dairy sheep operation - 2001 - Kieffer. Tom and Laurel Kieffer describe the journey they took in changing lifestyle to go sheep dairy farming in Wisconsin. They cover the challenges, genetics, health, facilities/equipment, and economics.

  • Effect of reducing the frequency of milking on milk production, milk composition, and lactation length in East Friesian dairy ewes - 2001 - McKusick. Milking efficiency is a function of milk yield and labor. There was no difference in milk yield, fat yield and percentage, protein yield and percentage, somatic cell count, and lactation length between ewes milked every 12 hours  or every 16 hours.

  • The effect of three times a day milking at the beginning of lactation on the milk production of East Friesian crossbred ewes - 2000 - de Bie. Ewes milked 3 times a day from parturition produced 12.6 liters more milk (15%) during the first 30 days than the ewes milked 2 times a day, but their fat and protein concentrations were lower and there was no difference in somatic cell count. When they were switched from being milked 3 times to 2 times a day, production and fat and protein concentrations reverted to the same as ewes milked 2 times a day from the start. These effects and the economic return depended on the percentage of East Friesian genetics.

  • Dairy sheep nutrition - 2000 - Cant. The authors briefly discussed the impact of lamb suckling and milking frequency during early lactation on milk production, the importance of nutrition in managing energy balance in early lactation and therefore milk production, the primarily hormonal cause of the mid-late lactation decline in production  (and that nutrition cannot change that but poor nutrition will still limit milk production), daily energy and protein requirements, and how to calculate nutritional intakes from pasture and supplements.

  • Development of a computerized dairy record keeping system - 2000 - Buschbeck. In 1999 the Ontario Dairy Sheep Association and the EweByte sheep flock recording system received a grant from the CanAdapt Small Projects Initiative to develop a record keeping system for dairy sheep. Dr Buschbeck presents the capabilities of the new milk module that was added to EweByte and other capabilities that were still under construction at the time.

  • An update on Coopérative Latiére Ovine du Québec (Co. L. O. Q.) - 2000 - Fillion. Coopérative Laitière Ovine du Québec is a cooperative that represents most of the dairy sheep producers in Quebec for the sales of their milk to different processors. The authors summarise how and why the cooperative was formed, its priorities, and what it does.